As well known to those skilled in the art, a hood of an automobile refers to the hinged, openable part of an automobile body covering an engine room.
As shown in FIG. 5, the construction of an automobile body related to the present invention includes an engine room "E" defined by fenders "F" and a radiator support panel "S", a hood 51 openably mounted at a cowl panel side of the engine room "E" by means of a hood hinge assembly 50, a latch means consisting of a hood latch assembly 52 for maintaining a latched state at a radiator support panel side, a hood striker (not shown) for engaging with the hood latch assembly 52 at the hood 51 and a hood stay damper 53 for supporting the opened hood 51.
As illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6, the hood hinge assembly 50 consists of a first hinge piece 54 fixed at an upper surface of a fender apron "FA", a second hinge piece 56 fixed at a lower surface of the hood 51, and a hinge pin 55 rotatably connecting the first hinge piece 54 with the second hinge piece 56.
The hood 51 consists of an inner panel 51' and an outer panel 51". The space "D" between the inner panel 51' and the outer panel 51" is about 15 mm. When the hood 51 is closed, a space "D1" between the hood hinge assembly 50 and the fender apron "FA" is about 35 mm, a space D2 between the outer panel 51" of the hood 51 and the fender apron "FA" is about 50 mm.
When an automobile having the above-described construction collides with a pedestrian, the pedestrian receives a shock having a force F1 when he crashes into the hood 51. In more detail, the pedestrian initially collides with the bumper of the automobile at the lower half of his body and, thereafter, the pedestrian falls into the hood 51 and comes into collision-contact with the hood 51.
In such a case, while the hood 51 is crushed and broken, the hood 51 absorbs the impact force applied by the pedestrian, thus reducing the shock applied to the pedestrian. In other words, while the space "D" between the inner panel 51' and the outer panel 52' and the space "D1" between the hood hinge assembly 50 and the fender apron "FA" is decreased, the shock applied to the pedestrian is reduced.
However, according to prior art, because the impact is absorbed using the space "D" between the inner panel 511 and the outer panel 52' and the space "D1" between the hood hinge assembly 50 and the fender apron "FA" and both spaces total 50 mm, the impact absorbing effect is low.
Additionally, because the hood is made of metal having a high degree of rigidity and supported firmly by the hood hinge assembly, there is a limitation in reducing the shock applied to the pedestrian.
Because the conventional hood hinge is rotated around one hinge point, the size of the hood hinge assembly must be increased so as to enlarge the space between the hood and the fender apron. However, because there are limitations for making the hood hinge large, the enlargement of the space is limited by the restrictions in automobile design.